


Astraphobia

by bethanyisinjail



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Astraphobia, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, MC is trying her best, Thunderstorms, jaehee has astraphobia, literally please how
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25065556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethanyisinjail/pseuds/bethanyisinjail
Summary: astraphobia [ as-truh-foh-bee-uh ]noun Psychiatry.1. an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning."“It’s stupid, there’s nothing you need to-” Her hand shoots back up to her ear at more thunder, “Nothing you can do.”You pause, likely trying to figure out what keeps causing her to pause mid-sentence. She silently curses at herself for texting you in the first place, nervously biting her lip.“Is something scaring you?”"
Relationships: Kang Jaehee (Mystic Messenger)/Reader, Kang Jaehee/Main Character (Mystic Messenger)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66





	Astraphobia

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is literally SO bad i'm so sorry but i was gracefully inspired when i saw a clip of that one ohshc scene somewhere. i have such a SOFT SPOT for jaehee and thought why not put her through this! yay!
> 
> apologizes in advance i absolutely hate this!!
> 
> hope you don't hate it too much haha!!

Plenty of kids have a fear of thunderstorms.

Jaehee included. 

She nervously fiddles with the corner of the book she is reading as the rain continues to pound on the roof above. It is only a rainstorm. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Yet.

At the first flash of lightning, she’s paralyzed. The boom of thunder follows suit, causing her to drop her book and desperately hug her knees to her chest. She hears a knock on the door, but the voice following is muffled by another clap of thunder. 

Her own fearful shriek seems to scare her, a heightened sense of panic enveloping her. Her crying is uncontrollable, sobs seeming to wrack her entire body. She wants to get away from the window. She needs to get away from the window. But she can’t seem to get her body to do anything but sit on her bed, curled up in a ball.

Her door opens, drawing her attention to the figure who just walked in.

“Mom-” She attempts to ask for help before another round of thunder drags her back into her fit of panic. 

Her mother takes a seat on the bed in front of her. “Jaehee,” She softly calls to her, “Sweetheart, I’m right here. You’re-”

Another crack of thunder, this time even louder, causes Jaehee to fling herself onto her mother. Although slightly surprised, her mother holds her close, continuously repeating calming words to her as she slowly rocks her crying daughter back and forth.

They remain like that for another half-hour, her desperately clinging to her mother until the storm begins to die down.

Finally, her mother pulls back slightly, able to see her daughter’s tear-streaked, still panicked face.

She offers her a small smile, placing a soft hand on Jaehee’s cheek, “Are you alright now, sweetheart?”

Jaehee weakly nods, her gaze falling down to her lap.

“When you get scared, you can come to find me, ok?” Her mother plants a kiss on the top of her head, “I’m always here to help you.”

*******

Most kids grow out of their irrational fear of thunderstorms. But Jaehee never seemed to. After dozens of sleepless nights, clinging to her mother who desperately tried everything she could to ease her daughter’s anxieties, she still hadn’t grown out of it.

But when her mother was there, it was manageable. She had someone to rely on. Someone who would always take her into her bed and whisper calming words to her until the storm stopped. 

But her mother passed away a year ago. 

She sees the dreadful flash of lightning out the window and immediately knows what’s to come. The thunder cracks, unexpectedly close. She jumps, trying her best to stay as quiet as she can as her breathing becomes painfully erratic. 

The rain on the window feels immensely threatening, but she can’t get away from it. There’s nowhere else to go. This isn’t her house.

The horror of not being able to escape the reach of her room’s window seems to hit her just as the next clap of thunder does. She brings her knees to her chest, pressing her hands over her ears in some desperate attempt to make it so she can no longer hear the storm outside. 

She wildly searches her head for her mother’s words, trying to remember the things that she would say to her. They all feel blurry. Distant. Too quiet to calm her down from-

More thunder. She whimpers like a child, knowing full well this reaction is completely unwarranted. But she can’t stop. 

She doesn’t dare ask for help, her new family barely wants to feed her. She just needs to be alone. She just needs to be alone. She just needs to be alone. 

A knock on her door scares her out of her mental mantra, immediately doubling any fear she felt previously. She frantically tries to make her situation look normal, stretching her legs out away from her and searching for a book to pretend she’s reading. Despite her efforts, at the next sound of thunder, her knees end up back at her chest.

The knocks get more violent. “Jaehee!” Her aunt calls.

She tries to wipe away any sense of panic off her face. “Yeah?” Her voice comes out shakier than she intended, clearly not ‘busy’ enough to keep her aunt from walking into her room.

The door swings open, the dimly lit expression of her aunt twisting from neutral to a strange confused and annoyed hybrid, with only the slightest bit of disappointment. 

She shakes her head at her, “Thunder?” She spits. Her eyes pierce into Jaehee as she attempts to appear less panicked, wincing at the next rumble of thunder outside.

Her aunt rolls her eyes, whispering something about her mother, and “of course her kid is afraid of thunder”. Jaehee can’t bother and listen, her aunt’s sly comments being the least of her worries at the moment.

Her aunt takes a couple of steps into the room before tossing an envelope at her, almost causing Jaehee to fly out of her own skin. Luckily, she manages to avoid expressing the immeasurable fear the flying object just brought her, bypassing another side-comment from her aunt.

Unfortunately, she isn’t as lucky with the thunder. It cracks almost simultaneously with the lightning, not providing any buffer time for Jaehee to prepare herself. She covers her ears again, curling up into the tightest ball she possibly can. Any leveling in her breathing over the past few minutes was destroyed as the sound seemed to knock the air out of her. 

“If you need anything, look for your uncle,” Her aunt rolls her eyes before walking out of the room.

At the sound of the door finally shutting, she relaxes slightly, shameful tears absentmindedly beginning to stream down her face.

She tucks herself under the covers, continuing to keep her legs as close to her chest as they can be. She desperately clutches into her blanket, more specifically her mother’s old blanket, hoping somehow it will calm her as her mother did.

The thunder persists for over an hour, Jaehee continuing to lie awake, curled up, and jumping at every new thunder sound. 

She feels ridiculously shameful about it, her aunt’s words continuing to taunt her, in that tone of complete annoyance. It’s stupid. It’s irrational. It’s a weakness she shouldn’t be showing to anyone else. 

Her mother always told her it was ok to be scared.

But she was beginning not to believe that.

*******

Not even adulthood seemed to be able to shake her fear.

It got marginally better. She learned little tricks, ways to circumvent the panic. Music, typing, drumming her fingers on a desk, pacing, counting out loud. Small things. But they worked, and that was all that mattered.

The worst days were when it would storm while she was at work. There was no escape, and she found herself desperately trying to use every trick in her book to just get through the day. It worked. Most of the time.

There were occasions, where she would find herself in one of the scarcely used bathrooms, curled up on the floor. Sometimes cold water helped. Sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes counting floor tiles helped. Sometimes it didn’t. It became unpredictable, even worrying Jumin once or twice. 

But no one knew.

Until you.

Jaehee turns up the music playing through her headphones, hoping to drown out the exceedingly heavy thunderstorm outside her apartment. Regardless of how loud the music is, however, she still found herself yelping and flinching away from every sound.

She frustratingly takes the headphones off her ears, taking the plug out of her phone. The next crack of thunder is louder than she was prepared for, causing her to pull her knees to her chest, as she had been trying to avoid. She lets out a shaky sigh, absentmindedly allowing herself to begin texting someone. 

You.

‘Hello MC, are you available?’

‘Yes! Do you need anything?’

‘Nothing in particular, just looking tpkll’

She jumps at the next sound of thunder, accidentally hitting a few more buttons than she had intended to. She’s shaking too much to correct her mistake fast enough.

‘Jaehee? Are you ok?’ She can only watch as you send another message, ‘Did something happen?’

Slowly she manages to type back, ‘I’m alright, sorry for fddce’

Another sound of thunder. Another jump. Another accidental message. The booming outside seems to shake her more this time, the familiar painful weight beginning to settle on top of her chest as her breathing shallows. 

You send a couple more messages that she can’t make out before she gets a phone call from you, likely out of worry. She doesn’t want to answer, she knows it’ll have to end in her pitifully telling you she’s scared of thunder, of all things. But she desperately needs a distraction.

She swallows her pride and picks up the phone, “Hello?”

“Hey, Jaehee! I was worried about you, so I just wanted to call and make sure you’re alright,” You answer.

She stands up as she listens to you, wincing at the next crack of lightning but beginning to slowly pace back and forth. “Thank you for-” She cups her free hand over her ear as more thunder sounds outside, trying her best not to make any noise.

“Jaehee?” You hesitate, “What going on? This isn’t normally like you.”

She takes in a shaky breath, “Nothing, it’s fine. Thank you for worrying, though.” She’s painfully aware of how fragile her voice sounds.

“No, it’s not nothing. Please tell me, I want to help!” You plead.

Pacing begins to stop working, as the collective fear from you pressing for what’s wrong and the thunder builds on her. She feels too shaky on her feet to keep walking, so she settles for sitting on the ground against the arm of the couch, wrapping one arm around her legs.

“It’s stupid, there’s nothing you need to-” Her hand shoots back up to her ear at more thunder, “Nothing you can do.”

You pause, likely trying to figure out what keeps causing her to stop mid-sentence. She silently curses at herself for texting you in the first place, nervously biting her lip.

“Is something scaring you?” 

She rests her head on her knees for a moment, attempting to take a couple of semi-even breaths before responding. “You need to promise me you won’t laugh or-” She winces at more booming outside, “Or tell anyone.”

“I would never do either of those things,” You assure her, “If it’s bothering you, I have no right to make fun of you for it.”

I’m scared of- of thunder,” She confides in practically a whisper, “I’ve had this stupid fear since I was a kid, but plenty of kids are scared of that. But I never grew out of it. And I don’t know why I get so freaked out at it because I know it’s not rational but-”

“Hey,” You softly stop her frantic ranting, “It’s not stupid. You have no control over something like that Jaehee. Thank you for telling me.”

She sighs in relief, although still slightly confused. “You don’t- find it ridiculous?”

“Not at all,” You state, “Why would I?”

“I don’t-” She stops to curl up tighter at more thunder, but you speak before she can gain her composure to continue.

“What do you normally do when this happens?” 

“Just wait it out,” She admits, “There are little things that kind of help, but typically I can only, I don’t know, panic I guess? Until it stops.”

“Hmm,” You puzzle, “What about when you were a kid?”

“My mother would always help me,” She hesitates, “If it was late at night she let me lay with her. She would always whisper calming things, though I don’t remember many of them anymore.”

“If this apartment wasn’t like jail,” She lets out a small laugh at your comment, “I would come over and do the same thing.”

She feels blush creep across her cheeks for a moment before the thunder scares it away. This time it scares her more than it should, as she’s too enthralled in your talking to remember what she’s currently cowering from. She cups a hand over her mouth to silence the whimper the scare caused.

You take her silence as discomfort, “Unless you don’t want that, of course!”

“Oh- no, I-I wouldn’t mind that!” She forces a sentence between breaths, “Sorry, I just-”

“No worries, Jaehee!” The next rumble of thunder seems to get farther away, “Take your time, I didn’t mean to rush you!”

“I-I believe the storm is on its way out,” She cringes at the shakiness in her voice, “I apologize for keeping you so long.”

“No, I enjoyed talking to you! You didn’t keep me from anything, I promise,” She hears what sounds like you flopping onto the bed on the other end, “I would love to stay if you’re not busy.”

A small smile creeps onto her face. “I’m not busy,” She makes her way back onto the couch, “And I wouldn’t mind having someone to talk to.”

“Yay!” You exclaim, “So, tell me about that musical you mentioned yesterday.”

*******

You were the best thing to have ever happened to her.

She hadn’t had someone in her life as supportive as you since she was a child. You never laughed at her worries or told her they were foolish. She felt as if she’d finally found a home when you both moved in together.

But this brought about a new worry: 

You had never actually seen her during a thunderstorm.

She takes off her apron and hangs it next to yours in the supply closet, coming back out and placing a hand on your shoulder as you shut the register.

“Ready to go?” She asks. 

You turn around and smile, “Of course.” You plant a kiss to her lips before you grab the keys off the counter and you both head to the car.

She gets into the passenger side, noting the abnormally dark clouds looming overhead. She continues to remind herself not to panic as she pulls out her phone to check the weather. 

A thunderstorm. A bad one nonetheless.

She shuts her phone off and begins to fiddle with it, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She tries her best not to display how nervous she is to you, but you still seem to pick up somethings wrong.

You take a quick glance over at her, “Everything alright?”

She looks up at you, smiling as believable as she can. “Yeah, I’m fine,” She reassures you.

You don’t quite believe her, but you choose not to press any further. She keeps her eyes locked out the window, trying her best to let her head wander anywhere but the impending storm.

You both arrive home 10 minutes later, neither saying anything as you get out of the car. She rushes into the house quicker than she knows is normal, but it’s already started raining, and she doesn’t want to be outside any longer than she has to. 

She heads into the bedroom you share and changes out of her work outfit into something more comfortable, barely tossing her clothes into the hamper before a huge clap of thunder knocks her off her feet. She scoots her way back against the bed, shaking as she pulls her knees to her chest.

Only a minute goes by before she hears a soft knock on the door, followed by you softly calling from the other side, “Jaehee?”

She hears you talking, but she can’t form the words to reply. She yelps at the next sound of thunder, somehow folding in smaller on herself.

You knock again. “Jaehee, sweetheart, I’m gonna come in,” You softly warn her before opening the door. She looks at you, noting you’re no longer dressed in your work clothes somehow. She sees your concerned expression gazing down on her. She doesn’t know why, but you remind her of her aunt.

She buries her head in her knees again, shameful tears beginning to well up in her eyes. You shouldn’t have to see her like this. 

Your voice sounds again, much closer this time. “Jaehee, can you look up at me?” More thunder, she jumps again, “I wanna help you, I promise.”

Jaehee raises her head just enough to look you in the eye, panic painted across her face. You reach out, although slowly, and place a hand on her cheek, brushing away tears that at some point started falling down her face. 

“Do you wanna get in bed instead?” Your voice is almost a whisper, “I can’t imagine the floor is comfortable.”

Her gaze falls to the floor, but she nods anyway. You grab her hands and steady her, as her legs seem so shaky that she’d probably fall without something to balance on. She takes a seat towards the head of the bed, going to move the covers but her hands shooting to her ears at the next clap of lightning before she can. 

You get in on the other side of the bed and pull the covers over both of you. You lay down and face each other, your calm and comforting expression the exact opposite of her tearfully panicked one. 

The next rumble of thunder causes her to grip her ears even tighter. You gently take them away from her head, holding them in yours under the covers.

You rub small circles on the backs of both her hands, “It’s going to be alright, sweetheart.” She nods, tension fading only the slightest amount, but it’s progress.

Until the next crack of thunder ends up right overhead.

She lets go of your hands and throws her arms around you, clutching the back of your shirt and burying her head in your chest. You pull your hands back in surprise at first, not expecting her to grab onto you, but then wrap them back around her.

You begin to trace slow circles on her back, knowing all you can do is continue to whisper calming sentiments as she shakes in your arms. 

She feels comforted. And although it doesn’t stop her from jumping at every new sound.

You still help.

The storm begins to grow distant, the time between rumbles of thunder growing further and further.

She leans back to look up at you, tears still slowly falling down her face. “I’m sorry,” She whispers, almost inaudible to you.

You shake your head, “Don’t be. I just want to do whatever I can to help comfort you.”

She takes her hand and wipes away tears with her sleeve. “You shouldn’t have to. It’s stupid.”

“No, it’s not stupid at all,” You pause for a moment, “Why would you say it’s stupid?”

She shakes her head and buries it back in your chest, “My aunt used to tell me.”

“What would she say?”

“Just sly comments, things like ‘of course her sister-in-law would raise a kid afraid of thunder’ and ‘she didn’t know she brought in a 2nd grader’,” She snuggles in closer, “I never realized how much it impacted me until I met you.”

You begin to run a hand through her hair, “I know it’ll take time, but I don’t think any of those things about you. Thank you for telling me what happened, though.”

“No,” She whispers, exhaustion beginning to drag her in, “Thank you for caring.”

You place a kiss on the top of her head, “I love you so much, Jaehee.”

“I love you more, MC.”


End file.
